Language class lessons

The standard sterile classroom environment-fluorescent lights, pale yellow paint on cinder block walls, a blackboard-emphasized the drudgery ahead for learning a language. It was also January, the darkest part of the year, the rainiest part of the year, when I began Norwegian class in Folkeuniversitetet in the Bergen city center on the southwest coast of... Continue Reading →

Should you plan non-essential international travel during a pandemic?

Someone asked me after I got vaccinated why I got vaccinated. I have science based reasons (as a biologist, I get asked a lot)-that the technology has been around for a couple of decades, it’s been used safely for other infectious diseases and cancer, and it’s less of a risk than getting COVID. But I follow... Continue Reading →

Desperately seeking gelato

by Janice Nigro Irrational thoughts take over right before international travel. Of the “leaving your cocoon” sort. The kind that compel you to clean your home thoroughly before you leave.  Such thoughts were unavoidable as the pandemic surges on around the world before my trip to Italy last month. Weird ideas, like did I get the... Continue Reading →

The view from afar

I enter a story in the Easy Reader contest for writing and photography each year. They usually print my stories about my adventures as honorable mention. This year I wasn't sure they would print it, as it's more of a personal essay (a shorter version of a post from a few months ago). But they... Continue Reading →

Why every American should live abroad

Sometimes you don’t get out of travel what you expect. Like the time I was stranded on a small island off the coast of Australia.  The island was not too far from the mainland, but in between were box jellyfish and crocodile infested waters. Swimming back was not going to be an option.  I took... Continue Reading →

What I learned writing a novel

by Janice Nigro Lockdown has reached over four months in California. From the beginning, it was clear that life could be over for any one of us in a flash. One week you’re here and three weeks later you’re not. That edict somehow freed me from any guilt about pursuing projects of passion. So I’ve... Continue Reading →

Unexpected Results

by Janice Nigro I left San Francisco, California for Bergen, Norway. In late fall. As a single woman. A few weeks before Christmas one year. Norwegians in San Francisco. Do you need to know how to dress for winter? Thanks, but I grew up in Chicago. Light cycles of shadow and dark on a backdrop... Continue Reading →

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